Wireless communication networks have become nearly ubiquitous and the demand for the wireless services they provide continues to grow. In addition to providing basic two-way voice communications, wireless networks also now provide text messaging, Internet access, downloadable music and video as well as the ability to transfer files created by so-called picture phones.
Consumer demand for network services has increased, in part, by the ability to obtain prepaid services, which is service that is paid for before it's used. Many cellular telephone service providers sell phones, the price of which includes a finite amount of service that will be provided to the phone after it has been purchased. By selling services prepaid, network service providers realize income at a substantially reduced risk of loss attributable to services provided to phones that have been lost by or stolen from their owners or services provided to subscribers who fail to pay for the services after they are provided.
In prior art prepaid service schemes, an initial or starting balance or initial credit of a network client device, such as a cellular phone, is pre-loaded into an account database by the service provider. As network services are provided to a client device over time, the account balance for the client device is debited as services are provided. When the account balance is zeroed, network service to the device is cut off.
A problem with prior art prepaid network service schemes is that they require the service provider to operate and maintain a database that maps a physical entity or a network agent to at least one account that is assigned to each network agent. A network agent refers to a client device such as a cellular telephone, a two-way radio, a personal digital assistance, a MP3 player, etc.
Those of ordinary skill in the art appreciate that there are drawbacks to maintaining a database of network services that are owed by a service provider to a network agent. Among other things, each service provider needs to maintain its own central authorization, charging, and rating database for each network agent. In a cellular telephone network, the maintenance of such a database includes mapping each cellular telephone to a phone number and area code. It also requires tracking and updating account balances. Further, if a user of a prepaid handset moves to an area outside the pre-defined location, the prepaid solution may require additional messages from the visited network to the home network. Since prepaid solutions are unique to each service provider, there is no easy way to set up a central clearinghouse to reconcile cross charges between service providers in real time. Several examples of prepaid network services that employ a database with pre-paid subscriber information are disclosed by Fougnies, et al (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,722,067; 5,854,975; 6,157,823; 6,236,851; U.S. Patent App. Pub. No. 2001/0021648).
A method and apparatus by which network services are provided to a network agent at a reduced computational overhead to the network would be an improvement over the prior art.